The Cursed Avenger
by WakingFromADream
Summary: After committing a terrible crime, Sasuke Uchiha was cursed to wander the lands forever until he could redeem himself. And to do that, he needs to seek out a cherry blossom and defeat a masked man. And who should come along but a pink-haired healer to help him out? AU with magicians and sorcery.
1. Prologue: Cursed

**The Cursed Avenger**

**a/n: The setting of this is a world with magic, sorcerers, witches and whatnot. Not sure of the timeframe though. But still, hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: If I did own Naruto, I would've made Sasusaku canon long ago.**

**Prologue: Cursed**

_Huff…huff…huff…_

_What have I done?_

Sasuke Uchiha stared at the sight before him. The body of his dead older brother, Itachi Uchiha, lay before him. His sword, the Kusanagi, was gripped tightly in his hands, covered in blood.

_What have I done?_

He dropped his sword on the floors of the hall. The clatter of the blade hitting the ground echoed around the room. Sasuke sank to his knees in horror and realization of what he had just done.

He had killed his older brother.

_This…this can't be happening._

_But you know what he did. You know he deserved it. He deserved to die, _yelled the small little voice in Sasuke's head.

_It doesn't matter, _the other part of him said with spite. _You killing him doesn't make you any better than him._

**_WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!_**

Sasuke clutched his face with his hands, cringing at the voice booming through his head.

**_You have done the unspeakable. You have murdered your kin._**

"Stop it! Get out of my head!" he wailed, yelling at the faceless voices that whispered in his mind. "Who are you?" he screamed.

**_We are the Council. We are the Jury. We are those that shall now decide your fate._**

Howls and wails echoed in Sasuke mind as he covered his ears to try to block the sound. "Go away! He deserved it!" he shouted to no avail as he was drowned out by the screams of the undead.

**_You have done the unspeakable. You have murdered your kin. You are cursed forevermore, until you have redeemed yourself._**

"I'M SORRY!" he yelled once more, grabbing and shaking his head. "STOP! STOP!"

**_Sasuke Uchiha, son of Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha, now passed. For the murder of your brother, Itachi Uchiha, you are cursed to wander the hills and the valleys, the oceans and the rivers until you have redeemed yourself from this deed._**

Suddenly, Sasuke felt a burning sensation in his left shoulder. It felt like a burning white-hot flame that grew more intense with each passing minute. He screamed in agony, clutching his shoulder in pain. "STOP! STOP IT!" he wailed, writhing on the floor. His eyes turned red, black tomoe spinning rapidly. The special trademark eyes of his clan that had been passed from generation to generation blazed in Sasuke's eyes involuntarily.

**_The Sharingan, the proud mark of the Uchiha clan. A secret passed down from the Sage of Six Paths, a powerful sorcerer renown to all, to his elder brother, the oldest ancestor of your clan. And now, Sasuke Uchiha, you are the last of the Uchiha to bear those eyes. Because of your actions, your eyes shall be cursed. _**

He felt like his eyes were on fire. His hands moved from his shoulder to his eyes, pressing on them to try and ease the pain. It burned. All he could see was red. Red, red, red. His eyes transformed from his Sharingan into…into…

**_Your Sharingan shall now be cursed. Behold, the Mangekyo Sharingan._**

Sasuke screamed. The pain was unbearable.

**_Redeem yourself, and you will be relieved from this curse._**

"I DON'T KNOW HOW!" Sasuke screamed, still on the floor in pain.

Silence…until…

**_Find the cherry blossom. Destroy the masked man._**

With those words, Sasuke Uchiha, the cursed avenger, blacked out.

**a/n: Well, how was that? Sorry that was so short! Don't worry, it's meant to be like that because it's just the prologue. First chapter coming soon! **

**Please review and tell me what you think! This is my first Sasusaku fic, and I really want to see how I can improve on my writing. Thanks! *gives imaginary hugs to all of you***


	2. Chapter 1: The Cherry Blossom

**Chapter 1: The Cherry Blossom**

**Disclaimer: Me? Own Naruto? Funny.**

Sasuke trudged on dragging his feet along the floor. He could hear the crisp sound of leaves crunching underneath his feet with every step he took on the forest floor. Keeping his eyes directed at his feet, he continued to walk.

It had been about three months since he was cursed. And so far, he was no closer to 'redeeming himself'.

_Find the cherry blossom. Destroy the masked man._

_What in the world was that supposed to mean? _He thought to himself. Find the cherry blossom. He knew what a cherry blossom was, but didn't understand what it was supposed to mean. So what if he found a pink flower? How was it supposed to help him defeat some masked man? What – he'd make a perfume and this 'masked man' would collapse?

And that was another thing. The masked man. There were probably hundreds of masked men in the country. Was he expected to kill every single on of them to redeem himself? Stupid. This whole thing was stupid.

He sighed and continued walking. "Let's go find a cherry blossom."

_Hey! Watch it!_

_Watch where you're going, missy!_

_Oof! Keep your eyes on the road!_

"Sorry! Oops…Sorry! Ah! Sorry ma'am!" the girl yelled as she sped through the streets, yelled apologies as she bumped into several people in her hurry.

_"Gonna be late, gonna be late, gonna be late!" _she muttered to herself, "Oh, she's gonna kill me!" She inwardly screamed, running through the streets, clutching papers to her chest. "Scuse me, pardon me!" She yelled.

Lady Tsunade sat cross-legged at her desk, chin resting on her hands. She glanced once more at the clock. "She's going to be late again." She muttered.

"Ah, well, Lady Tsunade…" Shizune said with a sheepish smile. '_Oh boy.' _She thought to herself.

_7:58…7:59…_

"I'M HERE!" a voice yelled, blasting open the doors to Tsunade's room. A pink-headed teen with cropped hair burst into the room, panting, hugging papers to her chest. She set down the papers on Tsunade's already cluttered desk, and stood up and gave a radiant smile. "I'm ready to start working, Lady Tsunade!"

Tsunade sighed, handing another stack of papers to the beaming girl. "Here's your assignments for the day. If you get them done quickly then you can be released early."

The girl took the papers from the older woman and gave a low bow. "Thank you so much, Lady Tsunade!" she chirped. "I'll do them quickly and to the best of my abilities!" With that she sped out of the room and to who-knows-where.

Tsunade put her head in her hands. "That girl…I honestly don't know what to do with her."

Shizune shrugged, holding Tonton, Tsunade's pet pig, to her chest. "Well, you have to admit, she's the most talented healer we've ever seen. At 15, she's already mastered around a hundred healing spells, and she excels at identifying poisons and creating antidotes. She's got an extensive knowledge of herbs and how to use each of them to create cures for any ailment. Not to mention she's got a lot of evasive skill, and can channel her energy with spells to give herself monstrous strength." The senior healer remarked. "Even I couldn't do that, especially at her age. She's one of a kind."

"She's a prodigy." Tsunade agreed, nodding her head. "And she's very dedicated. But still…"

She shook her head. _Oh, Sakura._

"Just a sprinkle of this, a little bit of that…oh! Almost forgot rosemary…there we go!" Sakura sprinkled the last of the herbs into the clay bowl, crushing them and putting them in a small container. '_That's 7 down, 1 more to go…"_ Hmmm…next one will need basil…

Sakura hummed tunes to herself as she spun around the storage room, gathering herbs for her next cure. She really loved being a healer. Not only did you get to spend days surrounded by beautiful plants and flowers, creating things that could cure people, but you also had the privilege and beauty of saving lives, not just killing them. Sorcerers and magicians – that was their only focus. Creating better spells to kill others and prove themselves better.

Yep, she'd take healing over sorcery any day.

"Aaaaand…done!" she finished up the last antidote, checking it off her list. "Now…just gotta rush these up to Lady Tsunade and I'm done for today!" She grabbed the small vials and skipped up to Lady Tsunade's room, a smile on her face. She loved this place. Every day she reminded herself how lucky she was to have the privilege of being under the tutelage of _the _Lady Tsunade, one of the best healers in the world, the head of the village as well as one of the three legendary Sannin. The three Sannin were magicians known throughout the land as having amazing skills in magic. Together, they were literally unstoppable.

And out of all the people, Tsunade had chosen _her, _Sakura Haruno, to be her pupil! Sakura had been so sure she would have chosen someone stronger or more skilled, like her best friend, Ino Yamanaka. No matter how close they were, there would always be a rivalry between them. Sakura had taken the opportunity to heart, training and practicing for hours everyday. And it had paid off.

"Lady Tsunade! Here are the antidotes that you asked for!" she said, placing the vials on her desk.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow and looked at the eight vials placed on her desk. "Very good, Sakura. You're dismissed."

"Thaaaaaank you!" Sakura sang, and skipped off on the streets. She glanced at her watch. She still had time.

She wandered absent-mindedly on the streets. It was a beautiful day today. She turned to look at her left while still walking forward. The sun was setting…

_OOF! Hey! Watch where you're going!_

Her face smashed into a man's broad chest. Her eyes furrowed in anger and she looked up to give a retort, only to be silenced by deep, black, onyx eyes.

The raven-haired boy stopped at the gate of the village. He sighed. This was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Except you didn't even know what the needle looked like.

His hand unconsciously went to the seal on his left shoulder. He had realized around a month ago just how dangerous it was. How dangerous he could be, combined with his Sharing–no–_Mangekyo_ Sharingan.

Lost in his thoughts, Sasuke continued to walk forwards, mulling over his misfortune…

"OOF! Hey! Watch where you're going!" he yelled, as he felt someone crash into him. His brow furrowed as he looked down towards the person who had the gravest misfortune to crash into him. Seriously? Where were this guy's manners? What was he doing? He could've injured someone like that! Oh, he'd pay. Idiot wasn't watching where he was going. He'd give that guy a piece of his…

Wait…A girl?

She was looking up at him with a pout on her face, her lower lip jutting out in a cute manner. She had her arms crossed on her chest. Her eyes were an apple green, and right now, they were blazing with anger.

But that wasn't what Sasuke was staring at right now.

Her hair. Pink, pink hair.

"Uh, sorry? You wanna repeat that?"

The girl was staring at her with those green eyes. Sasuke realized that his supposed verbal assault had become a string of incomprehensible mutters and words.

"Ah…uh…um…watch where you're going…?" _So much for giving her a piece of my mind, _he thought to himself.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Whatever." She muttered. He frowned as she shoved past his shoulder. Sasuke stared at her pink head that bobbed through the streets of the village.

Her hair. Her hair was pink. Pink. Pink. Pink.

Somehow, Sasuke found that important.

**a/n: Yay! Long chapter! Hope you enjoyed once again! Please everyone, review! It makes me encouraged to write more! **


	3. Chapter 2: Come With Me

**Chapter 2: Come With Me**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto. **

Sasuke wandered the streets. Pink. Pink hair. He couldn't get it out of his head. Somehow, he thought it was important. Why? He wracked his brain to try to come up with an answer. Why was pink so important?

He looked up at the sky. It was getting dark. He should find a place to stay soon. He looked off to the west, where the sun was setting. He enjoyed sunsets. They painted the sky with hues of red and orange, which reminded him of the fireball spells his clan was so famous for. It brought him a sense of peace, of family.

Of course, he didn't have a family anymore now, did he?

In his frustration, Sasuke grabbed the nearest rock to his feet and flung it to the lake. "Aaaaargh!" he yelled in frustration.

"OW!"

He froze. Oops.

"HEY! You! What's your problem, throwing rocks like that!" An angry girl stalked up to him, one hand clutching the side of her head. "You – wait a second, I know you…"

_Pink,_ he thought. _Pink pink pink. _He stayed silent, gazing off to the side uncomfortably._ Don't recognize me, don't recognize me, don't recognize me…_

Her green eyes lit up with realization. "You're that boy! That boy I bumped into!"

_Shoot._

She gave a sheepish smile and looked down at her feet. "Sorry about that…"

He brought his eyes to her face. "No problem." He muttered. "I hit you on the head anyway, so we're even." He shifted his feet.

"Anyway! Let's start over!" She exclaimed, bringing out her hand exuberantly. "I'm Sakura. Sakura Haruno." She beamed.

_Sakura, _he thought. _Sa-ku-ra. _That was a funny name, Sakura. Something clicked into place in his head. _Pink. Sakura. Cherry blossom._

_Find the cherry blossom._

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Hey, you okay? You're staring at me weird."

Sasuke snapped back into reality, looking at the girl in a new light. He took her hand. "Sasuke. Sasuke Uchiha." He said rather gruffly. "I-I need to go."

And he disappeared.

_I found her. I found the cherry blossom._

Now, just how to convince her to come with him on a dangerous, probably suicidal quest to destroy this 'masked man' who he didn't even know the identity of?

He rested his elbows on his knees and put his head in his hands. He needed to talk to her. He needed to.

He hissed as the curse mark on his shoulder flared, and he brought his left hand up to rub it, a habit he had begun to develop unconsciously.

He got up and leapt onto the rooftops of the village, and began to search for his cherry blossom.

_Ahhhhh…relaxing._

Sakura leisurely walked to the apartment she owned. Humming a song she didn't know the title of anymore, she unlocked the doors to her room and entered her apartment. It was rather small and modest, just the way she liked it. She turned around and set her keys on the table, still humming a tune.

"Hey."

"AHHHHHHH!" She whirled around and grabbed the nearest thing in reach, which so happened to be the flower vase she'd gotten from Ino as a Christmas present. "STAY BACK! Stay back, or else…or else…"

"Calm down." The shadowy figure in her room stepped into the little light provided by the moon. "I just wanted to talk."

"You! You're Sasuke, aren't you?" Sakura exclaimed, lowering her vase, but not completely. "What are you doing here? How'd you get into my apartment? How did you find out where I live?" Questions came bursting out of her.

Sasuke raised a hand up. "I came here to talk to you. All I had to do was ask around for a pink-haired girl. Not many of you around. A blonde, long-haired girl told me where you lived, although she insisted I come over to her place instead." He frowned.

Sakura rolled her eyes at her best friend. "That would be Ino." She set down the vase on her desk. "Why are you here?"

"I need you to come with me."

She raised an eyebrow. Well, that was unexpected. "Um, I know you're not from around here, but I'm pretty sure even in your place people don't say 'yes' to that kind of request."

He continued staring at her with onyx eyes. "You don't understand. I need you to come with me, to find and destroy the masked man."

"…Why don't we start at the beginning?"

"So, you want me to run away with you to somewhere we don't know, to look for and destroy this 'masked man', who you have no idea is. And all because these spirits told you to find a 'cherry blossom', which you think is me just because my name is Sakura and my hair is pink?"

Sasuke went over the monologue in his head, and gave a small, curt nod. "That's pretty much it."

She gaped at him, her mouth wide open in disbelief. "Ha! Well, you got something going for you." She jabbed her pointer finger in his face with every word for emphasis. "I'm. Not. Going."

He grabbed her hand, his voice still emotionless. "Please. I need you to help me. I need to get rid of this curse."

"Listen." She looked at him. "I really hope you have good luck in this quest of yours. I really do. But…I just can't get involved. I'm a healer. Not a magician or a sorcerer, which is what you need. And I really doubt you need someone like me. Maybe you heard wrong."

"Please." His voice had dropped to a whisper. "I'll never be able to rid myself of the curse. They told me to find the cherry blossom. It's got to be you. Please."

"Sasuke…I'm sorry. But I can't." She looked up at him and turned away. "Please just go."

"…Sakura."

"What do you–!" as Sakura spun around to meet him, he caught her right hand and put it on his left shoulder. "What are you–!" She gasped as she felt the marks from the cursed seal on his shoulder. His eyes transformed and turned red as his pupils transformed into ellipses and his cursed Sharingan activated.

"Your–your eyes!" She whispered. She knew of the Sharingan, the eyes of the Uchiha. But his, his looked different.

"My eyes are cursed. Instead of the Sharingan, I have the Mangekyo Sharingan. And on my shoulder, the cursed seal." He took her hands. "Please. I…I need you."

Sakura stared at those eyes. Those eyes that stared at her relentlessly. And suddenly, she pitied him. Though most would see no emotions in those red eyes, she saw pain. Lots and lots of pain. And suddenly, she wondered what he did to deserve this curse. And what this curse did to him for him to want it to be removed so desperately.

_"Come with me."_

To go with him, a complete stranger, on an adventure, on a quest to who knows where. To go somewhere probably very dangerous, to defeat someone who they didn't even know. To go with him to a place that probably had many magicians and sorcerers and witches who would like to stop them. To go with him and blindly trust him to lead them both. Not to mention they had known each other for a span of around 10 minutes. The whole thing screamed 'STUPID' in all caps.

Yet somehow, those eyes, those pleading eyes…

Somehow, she found herself saying…

_"Yes."_

**a/n: And the adventure begins! Please review everyone! I'd really appreciate it!**


	4. Chapter 3: The Beginning

**Chapter 3: The Beginning**

**Disclaimer: I own Naruto…in my dreams.**

"Ummm…where are we going again?"

Sakura shifted the weight of the backpack on her shoulders. She was wearing her usual outfit – a red shirt and black shorts covered by a short pink apron skirt. She was also wearing her open-toed black boots and her favorite black gloves. A red bandana was tied around her hair. She shuffled along behind the silent man.

The Uchiha was wearing a white long-sleeved shirt and dark blue pants with a blue cloth that went from his stomach to his knees. A purple rope belt was tied around his waist, where his sword was hung. A red and white fan – a crest? – was on his collar.

"Hey. Mister. I'm talking to you." She said again. "Where are we going?"

"To a friend." Came a monotonous reply. _Uh huh. That's specific. _Sakura thought with a roll of her eyes. This was going to be a long trip.

"Whoa…This is amazing…" Sakura stared up at the huge doors of the house – no, more like a palace. The mansion could be equivalent to half the size of her entire village! Just the sight of the place made the 5 hour trip worth it.

Sasuke walked up to the door and grabbed the doorknocker, rapped it against the door a few times, and stepped back. A few seconds later, the door opened a tiny crack, a blue eye peeking through.

"Who's there?"

With a roll of his eyes, Sasuke answered. "It's me, dobe."

Suddenly, the doors flew wide open and Sasuke was assaulted with a hyper, energetic blonde as he stumbled backwards. "Ah!"

"SASUKE!" The blonde pulled back and gave a huge smile as the Uchiha righted himself again. "Where've you been! Heard you've been missing for three months! You should come and visit more often!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes once again. "Whatever, dobe." He suddenly took notice of Sakura, who was standing silently and uncomfortably on the edge. "Listen, you want to let us in? Sakura and I need a place to stay the night."

"Sakura, huh?" The blonde looked at her with his blue eyes. "Matches your hair."

Sakura gave a smile. "Yeah, lots of people say that. I'm Sakura, Sakura Haruno."

"Sakura Haruno, huh? Well, nice to meet you. I'm Naruto. Naruto Uzamaki. Come in, we have food! Hope you like ramen!"

Sakura stared bewilderedly at the whiskered blond eating bowlfuls of ramen at a time. "Where in the world does he put all of that…" she muttered as he placed another empty bowl on his right and the server gave him another bowl. Sasuke shrugged and continued eating his own bowl of ramen.

"So! _Slurp. _Whatcha guys _slurp_ doing here?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke set his chopsticks onto the table and leaned back into his chair. "I need help." He explained that he had a curse, and he needed to defeat a 'masked man' to free himself from it.

Naruto frowned, _finally_ stopped eating and put his hands behind his head. "A masked man, huh? Nope, never heard of him. Even as a part of the Hyuga clan, I don't think I've heard of him."

The pink haired teen sputtered, spitting out the tea she had been drinking. "H-Hyuga clan?" No way. This guy couldn't a part of the most influential, most powerful family of all time, right? Descendants of powerful wizards who discovered the many secrets of the eyes and what they could do. They discovered how to see through things and even how to locate the energy points on one's body! By stopping those points, the person might not be able to gather the energy to do a spell or do magic. It was one of the most closely guarded secrets of the clan, and one of the most hunted secrets of warlocks and witches.

This goof couldn't possibly be one of them, could he?

"Yep." Naruto smiled.

"But wait." Sakura frowned. "You said your name was 'Naruto Uzamaki', not Naruto Hyuga. And your eyes…they're blue, not pale. How can you be a Hyuga?"

"B-because he m-married one."

Sakura whirled her head behind her. A long-haired woman stood at the entrance of the dining hall. She wore a traditional kimono, and her eyes were milky and pale. She stood with poise and walked over to Naruto with the grace of a noblewoman.

"H-hello. I am Hinata Hyuga, N-Naruto's wife." Hinata gave a small smile. "N-Naruto is a part of the H-Hyuga clan because he m-married into it through me."

Sakura raised her eyebrows. Hinata Hyuga? As in, the daughter of the head of the Hyuga clan? No wonder their house was so big.

"I'll show y-you into your rooms. Dinner will be ready in a f-few hours." Hinata stuttered.

"You're joking."

"I'm serious! It was hilarious! We had to carry him to his room!"

"No way! As in, _Neji _Hyuga? I saw him once when he passed by our village. He's super-serious, right?"

"Yeah! That's why it was so funny! His wife was so embarrassed. You should've seen Tenten's face!"

Sakura burst into laughter as Naruto tried to imitate his version of Tenten's aghast and embarrassed face. She liked Naruto. He knew how to tell a story, that's for sure.

As Naruto ventured off into another hilarious story of another fellow noble or magician that he'd met as a part of the Hyuga clan, Sasuke frowned and sipped his tea. Naruto and Sakura made friends really quickly. Their personalities somehow seemed to click instantly. She seemed to warm up to his best friend much more than she did to him. Sasuke scowled. That shouldn't bother him, should it?

He coughed loudly, bringing the pair to attention. "Naruto, where's Lady Hinata?" he asked, if only to get them to stop talking.

"Ah, Hinata-chan? She's meeting a couple of noblewomen tonight. You know, clan stuff." He gave a broad smile.

"Why aren't you there, Naruto-kun?" Sakura asked suspiciously. "I thought you were a part of the Hyuga clan too?"

Sasuke gave a bigger scowl. Naruto-_kun?_ Since when did Sakura use the endearing suffix on Naruto?

"Yeah, but this is 'women exclusive'. They're probably going to paint their nails or shop or do make-up or something. Imagine me in that!" Naruto proceeded to do an impression of a Hyuga noblewoman. "Oh daaaahling, which color do I use for my nails? Hmmm, hot pink or lavender? Oh, I just can't choose, Sakura-chan!" He exclaimed while puckering his lips and fluttering his eyelids.

Sakura burst into another bout of laughter as Sasuke scowled again at the suffix attached to Sakura's name. "_Anyways."_ Sasuke said loudly. "We need your help. The masked man. How do you think we can find him?"

Naruto frowned. "The masked man? I told you, never heard of him. But maybe _he _knows."

"Who?" Sakura asked in confusion. "Who's he?"

"Oh, just our tutor when we were kids. He's actually pretty famous." Naruto said off-handedly. Sasuke's eyes widened in realization at who he was talking about.

Sakura, however, still didn't understand. "What's his name?"

Naruto gave a broad grin. "Kakashi Hatake, son of the White Fang. Better known as Kakashi of the Sharingan."

Sasuke sat on the edge of his bed, sharpening his katana. "Kakashi Hatake, huh." He muttered. He remembered him. He had taught Naruto and him when they were kids, teaching them basic magic, although it had always been a mystery how Kakashi had gotten hold of the Sharingan when he wasn't an Uchiha…

"Knock knock." Muttered a voice from outside.

"Hn."

The whiskered blonde entered the room, immediately plopping down on an armchair. "So. Haven't heard from you in three months. Been busy?"

"Hn."

"Well, that explains a lot." Naruto said sarcastically, putting his hands behind his head and leaning back on the armchair, riding his white shirt up a little and exposing the bottom part of his stomach. Sasuke caught a glimpse of the red seal on the Uzamaki's abdomen.

"You doing okay?" Sasuke asked with a monotone. Naruto grinned. No matter how uncaring or emotionless his best friend might seem, some part of him cared. Maybe.

"What, ya mean this?" He said, patting his belly where the red seal lay. "Yeah, no incidents from the mean ol' Kyuubi for a while now. In fact, I'd say I'm getting better at controlling him. All his energy is certainly useful in a fight. The priests must've picked the right guy to host a demon."

"Hn." Sasuke said once again.

"What about you, though?" He said.

Sasuke stayed silent.

"Sasuke." Naurto said seriously, leaning forward and putting his elbows on his knees. "Ever since you went missing, I've been hearing rumors. Is it true? Is it true…you killed your brother?"

Sasuke painfully looked up at his best friend and pursed his lips. He painfully, slowly gave a small nod.

Naruto closed his eyes. "I'm not going to ask you why. I know you had a reason, Sasuke." The raven-haired boy gave a small smile in thanks.

"But…you have to be careful."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. _Careful? What does he mean?_

"There's…been talk. Since you've gone missing, there's been rumors going around about you and your clan. Not only that, but it looks like there's quite some magicians out there who are out for your blood. Sasuke, I think people are coming for you. And not very good people. And this quest? For the masked man? Sounds like that's the heart of it all."

Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows. People talking about him? Why? What was so important about this 'masked man' that people would kill to stop him?

"You have to be careful. There's going to be magicians out there who want to stop both you and Sakura-chan."

Sasuke suddenly scowled. There again with the suffix!

"What?" Naruto said, confused. "What's wrong with Sakura-chan? You're the one who dragged her into this, right?"

The Uchiha clenched his fists in anger. Stupid suffix!

"What suffix? Chan? You don't like me calling her Sakura_-chan_?" Naruto said, the corners of his mouth turning up in realization.

Curse him for speaking aloud! "Just shut up, dobe." Sasuke muttered.

"Why? Jealous? Jealous that **I** can call her Sakura-_chan_? And that she calls me Naruto-_kun_?" Naruto said, now on his feet in glee.

"Keep quiet, dobe!" Sasuke said, gritting his teeth.

"SASUKE LIKES SAKURA-CHAN! SASUKE LIKES SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto crowed.

"Shut up!" Sasuke growled as he pounced on the blonde. The two of them started to wrestle on the floor, Sasuke clamping Naruto's mouth shut everytime he started to launch into another love song about the two of them.

"SASUKE AND SAKURA, SITTING IN A TREE! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Naruto sang, until his mouth was covered by Sasuke's hand. "SASUKE LOVES SAKURA-CHAN! SASUKE-"

"What's going on in here?"

The two boys froze and looked up at who was at the doorway. A pink-haired teen stood there, her hair still wet from what was probably a shower, a towel draped on her neck. She was wearing a long white bathrobe and pink flip-flops.

Sasuke gulped. "Ah…uh…" His eyes were trying very hard to concentrate on her face right now, and _only_ her face, and not her long, slender arms, or those creamy legs hidden behind the bathrobe, or the way her neck gracefully arched and moved…

_STOP! STOP NOW! _He mentally told himself. "Ah, nothing. Just having fun." He muttered.

"Yeah! We're just wrestling around, Sakura-_chan._" Naruto said, emphasizing the suffix, much to Sasuke's annoyance.

She continued to look at them with a confused look on her face. "…Okay. You guys were really loud, that's all. I'm just going to go to sleep now, then." And she exited the room.

Naruto gave Sasuke a lecherous smile. "So, like her outfit, teme?"

Sasuke scowled, got up and shoved Naruto to the entrance of the door. "Just get out of my room, dobe." He muttered grumpily.

The blonde smiled. "Whatever, teme. I hear wedding bells!" and he jumped out of the way of the incoming pillow and pranced out of the room.

Sasuke flopped onto the bed. Hmph. In that idiot's dreams. Wedding bells? Hmph, he didn't even like Sakura! He was just dragging her along for this stupid quest to get rid of this stupid curse.

With that comforting thought, the Uchiha fell asleep.

**a/n: Woah! Really long chapter! Yay! Please review everyone!**


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